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The English Concert was founded by Trevor Pinnock and others in November 1972. The date of foundation is often given as 1973, probably because they started with seven people and only later progressed onto the orchestral repertoire as their number increased. They were one of the first orchestras dedicated to performing baroque and early classical music on period instruments, their repertoire from then to now ranging approximately from Monteverdi to Mozart.[2]

Their London debut was at the English Bach Festival in 1973, which led to their first recording in 1974, Sons of Bach harpsichord concertos, on CRD records.[3] They first played at The Proms in 1980, and toured North America in 1983. The group gained much recognition from their prolific number of recordings with Archiv Produktion from 1978 until 1995, during which they recorded most of the major baroque repertoire.

The Choir of the English Concert (or permutations of that phrase), was formed in 1983 to perform Rameau's Acante et Céphise. It continued assembling as needed for recordings and performances with the group until the mid-1990s, when the decision was made to make it a regular choir on a level with the orchestra, in preparation for their performance of Bach's Mass in B Minor. Performances of oratorios and large-scale vocal works became more common after this. Rather than use established soloists in the arias and solo sections of these works, the choir was thought to be so good that the soloist material was shared amongst the regular members, a practice that Andrew Manze continued.[4]

Trevor Pinnock stepped down as director in 2003 to pursue solo and other conducting projects.[6] Orchestra members decided to hand over to violinist Andrew Manze, who was at that time associate director of The Academy of Ancient Music.[7] One of his first projects as director was a reconstruction of the first performance (in 1717) of Handel's Water Music, sailing down the River Thames on a barge. This was filmed for the BBC and released on DVD.[8] With Manze's leadership came a new series of recordings with Harmonia Mundi.

There was, for a time, a chamber ensemble drawn from the principal members, The English Concert Chamber Ensemble, which released a few recordings as 'Members of The English Concert' or using their individual names. The English Concert Winds were a group of wind players from the orchestra who released a recording.[9]